Clear Social Media Commenting Policy

Brands caught deleting unfavorable comments from their social media properties have compounded their troubles. Attention is drawn to the negative comment, the brand appears to have no meaningful response, and the company now has a reputation for social media censorship. A brand known for discouraging social media dialogue may as well have no social media at all.

A key component of successful social media management is a clear and conspicuous comment policy. Your comment policy sets the rules for communication on your pages, and makes clear how comments will be moderated. For example, you can prohibit profanity, threatening language and links to sites with inappropriate or off-topic material.

Once you have your comment policy in place, you can delete rule-breaking posts with confidence – and even block users when necessary. However, your protection against claims of censorship or prejudice only goes so far; you must still be prepared for posts that are only provocative or critical.